In the sixties and seventies, Ugo La Pietra's design research focused, following critical trends which analysed the social and peripheral aspect of the urban space, on spontaneous material cultures. In particular, within Other cultures, La Pietra's investigation focuses on a specific and circumscribed environment, where architectural peculiarities are created spontaneously: Poetto beach in Cagliari. The review, which consists of a photographic sampling of the summer beach constructions, the "ville", dating back to 1978 and reveals a unique environment that has all but vanished, a spontaneous architecture that observes a cohesive language. The wooden villas along the beach in Cagliari are unique structures which form, as shown inside the book, a real lost architectural alphabet.

Other cultures gathers the illustrated plates which show the series of projects and idea that sprung from the observation of structures on Poetto beach, gathered by Ugo La Pietra in the 1970s, accompanied by an introduction by Vittorio Fagone.

Ugo La Pietra lives and works in Milan. He has always described himself as a “researcher” in the visual arts and in communication. His thinking has been expressed in numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad. He has curated various exhibitions for the Milan Triennale, the Venice Biennale, the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Lyon , the FRAC Centre in Orléans, the Museo delle Ceramiche in Faenza and the Fondazione Ragghianti in Lucca. He won the Compasso d'Oro in 1979. His research experience in architecture and design have led him to develop themes such as “The Domicile Cell: A Microstructure: within the Information and Communications Systems” (MoMA, New York, 1972 – Fiera di Milano, 1982), “Rapporto tra Spazio reale e Spazio virtuale” (Triennale di Milano 1979, 1992), “La casa neoeclettica” (Abitare il Tempo, 1990), “Cultura Balneare” (Centro Culturale Cattolica, 1985/95). Through his work, writing and teaching he has constantly supported “local” as opposed to “internationalist” design.